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Bike Across Southern Italy

​A Fun-Filled Four-Region Traverse of Italy from Heel to Toe

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A Sea to Sea Ride across the Italian peninsula through the enchanting regions of Puglia, Basilicata, Campania, and Calabria

Destination

Italy, Cilento Coast, Basilicata and Calabria, Puglia

Activity

Biking

Level

Advanced

Level

Perfect for the cycling newbies who already enjoy being active, or anyone who just wants to take it easy.

Pedal at a meandering pace, stopping to take pictures, savor a leisurely lunch and explore the surroundings. Enjoy quiet roads along flat and rolling terrain zigzagging through vineyards, olive groves and farmland.

Average daily distance: 35-45 miles

Terrain: flat and rolling

Our Athletic Beginner tours are perfect for those who aren’t avid cyclists, but are fit and love to exercise regularly.

On these trips, you’ll enjoy a flowing pace with plenty of time throughout the day to indulge in the local specialties, take in the local culture and enjoy the magnificent views. There will be an occasional hill, more rolling terrain and higher mileage than an Easy tour.

Average daily distance: 35-45 miles

Terrain: flat and rolling

Our guides will offer cycling clinics and one-on-one coaching in cadence, positioning and the art of shifting efficiently on rolling hills.

You love being active and cycling is your preferred way. You are in good physical condition and ride whenever you can.

Intermediate tours maintain a steady pace with opportunities to push yourself by tackling challenging climbs with great descents over stunning terrain. You’ll still have time to explore and enjoy the landscape and towns you’ll visit.

Average daily distance: 40-50 miles

Terrain: rolling with some hills

You are an avid cyclist who trains regularly, participates in bicycling events and is eager to plan their next bicycling vacation. You enjoy a vigorous ride, challenging climbs and thrilling descents.

These “Epic” and “follow the race” tours are spectacular and have plenty of classic climbs and are perfect for cyclists who covet long mileage with lots of hills and varying terrain.

Average daily distance: 45+ miles

Terrain: hilly with long climbs

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Duration

12 days / 11 nights

Bucket List Alert: You seek an epic journey to explore an undiscovered part of Italy, spectacular places where no one else goes. You seek to be pampered with exquisite specialities and sumptuous accommodations.

Bucket List Alert: You seek an epic journey to explore an undiscovered part of Italy, spectacular places where no one else goes. You seek to be pampered with exquisite specialities and sumptuous accommodations.

Fueled by the success of our most popular bicycle tour—Bike Across Italy—which crosses central Italy from Fano to Porto Ercole, director Lauren Hefferon designed the perfect complement: Bike Across Southern Italy, a 12-day adventure traversing the Italian peninsula east to west through the enchanting regions of Puglia, Basilicata, Campania, and Calabria. See and experience an Italy you never imagined, as our bike trip takes us from Puglia into the trulli region with its captivating clusters of conical trulli structures, and across the Basilicata region to Matera, the famous city of stone. We’ll ride through Castelmezzano’s vast cultivated fields, natural preserves, lava formations, and tiny ancient towns, and pedal the breathtaking coastline of Campania’s Cilento peninsula, rivaling the natural beauty of the Amalfi Coast, but unknown to all.

Recognition

What's Included

Once you have a trip confirmed, we will feed you a steady diet of additional pre-departure information that includes: How to train, prepare, pack and all the wonderful, inspirational and practical things you want and need to know before you go! Our Travel Advisors will be available to help plan your pre- and post-tour travel.

Discover an Italy you never imagined on this magical cycling trip. Deluxe accommodations await at the end of each day’s adventure on our cycling tour. We’ll spend a night each in Palinuro and Maratea, two of Italy’s most beautiful coastal towns, so you can enjoy the area’s forests and beach coves, friendly residents, and welcoming trattorie and seafood restaurants. Our route also takes us to Pollino National Park, a World Wildlife Foundation protected forest of pine trees and eucalyptus, and through the tiny hilltop Albanian villages of Calabria, founded some 500 years ago and still maintaining their own language and traditional dress. The grand finale of this sentimental biking vacation is a ride to Cittadella del Capo, a city which epitomizes the ecco la bella vita (here is the beautiful life) style. You’ll carry it home in your heart and soul!

Confirmed tours are dates that have been selected by us that have a very high probability of reaching the minimum group size for us to run the tour and for you to receive the best Ciclismo Classico experience. These tours are confirmed as much as a year in advance, compared to our regularly scheduled tours which are confirmed around 90 days prior to departure. When you place your deposit for a confirmed tour, you have the green light to make your pre and post travel plans and even book your flight with our personal guarantee that your tour will run!

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Optional Single Supplement

If you are traveling alone, this optional single supplement will guarantee you a room to yourself at each hotel. The cost of a single room is often more than half the price of a shared room, so this additional supplement reflects that increased cost for each night over the course of the trip.

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Itinerary

Start Location

Fly Into

End Location

Fly Out Of

Polignano al Mare

Welcome to Polignano! Today we meet the group at 12:30 pm in the hotel lobby for intros and a light lunch. After lunch, we will have time to change into cycling gear for a bike fitting and short safety talk before our warm-up spin along the stunning Adriatic Coast and up to the Murgia. We conclude our evening with cocktails, dinner, and a leisurely walk around this lovely seaside town.

Polignano al Mare to Alberobello

We’ll ride on rolling, narrow roads lined with stone walls as we travel through a strange fantasyland of conical-shaped houses called trulli. We’ll stop for lunch in Locorotondo and then continue to Alberobello, a UNESCO World Heritage site that is home to over 1,000 trulli. We’ll also visit the Cantina Albea for a wine tasting. This winery is located just a short walk from the center of Alberobello and hosts a wine museum that explains the winemaking traditions of the local farmers. Dinner is a great feast of typical, seasonal dishes.

Average Mileage

35/55 miles

Elevation Gain

1,500 ft

Riding Terrain

Rolling, leaving sea level up onto the “Murge” and Alberobello at 787 ft

Accommodations

Peacefully positioned on a hillside, but still within a short walking distance of downtown Alberobello, La Corte Dell’Astore is a magic combination of Past and Present, Competence and Passion, Dream and Reality that you will experience in the Trulli.

Luxury Level

Day3

Alberobello to Matera

Today’s ride is one of the flattest, but with several long stretches of very straight road. We continue to see more of the dry stacked stone walls, and they are also far more manicured than the tiny farms we passed in the Trulli land between Alberobello and Martina Franca. We stop in Mottola for views of the Ionian sea and a Ciclismo picnic at an Agriturismo where our friend Giaccomina runs her family’s farm and prepares for us a lunch made with ingredients produced on her farm. The afternoon ride presents vast, less inhabited lands where you can imagine some of the spaghetti westerns being filmed. Finally, we arrive in Matera, a UNESCO World Heritage site and a truly unique experience.

Average Mileage

Elevation Gain

Riding Terrain

Accommodations

Locanda Di San Martino is set inside the Matera Sassi UNESCO World Heritage site. It offers traditional accommodations carved out of the rock, plus a hydromassage indoor swimming pool.

Luxury Level

Day4

Rest Day or Loop to Montescaglioso

A good day to rest and explore Matera or take a short spin to Montescaglioso, a hilltop town with an important ancient abbey where we’ll take a quick visit to the Monastery. This ride provides a preview of the climbs to come during the next days of the tour. We’ll be back in Matera for lunch. In the afternoon we’ll meet with a local guide for a walking tour of this unique 8,000-year-old city.

Average Mileage

23 miles / optional rest day

Riding Terrain

Starting with a 3.7 mi descent then a 3.1 mi climb to Montescaglioso, and back through the wheatfields of Basilicata

Accommodations

Locanda Di San Martino is set inside the Matera Sassi UNESCO World Heritage site. It offers traditional accommodations carved out of the rock, plus a hydromassage indoor swimming pool.

Luxury Level

Day5

Matera to Castelmezzano

Today is a spectacular roller coaster ride which rolls through the hilly basilicata landscape. We start with a descent to the Bradano River Valley to Lago di Giuliano. We’ll ride through this World Wildlife Foundation-protected forest of pine and eucalyptus trees. Here we enjoy breathtaking views of the Lago di Giuliano and several of the hilltop villages written about by Carlo Levi in his historic novel Christ Stopped at Eboli . We pass through one of the once important Roman outposts Tricarico, where we’ll have lunch. We then descend with great views of the Piccolo Dolomiti and finish the day climbing to the mountain of Castelmezzano.

Average Mileage

37/64 miles

Elevation Gain

5,900 ft

Riding Terrain

Long descent from Matera, then rolling, followed by some significant climbing in the afternoon

Accommodations

Nestled in the rocks of the Piccoli Dolomiti (Little Dolomites) and in the midst of a beautiful park, Locanda di Castromediano offers mountain style hospitality. Our host, Antonietta, is well known in Italy as a one of the most important Chefs who represent “La Cucina Lucane”. She will treat us to an unforgettable feast of Local Culinary delights as we recover from today’s ride.

Luxury Level

Day6

Castelmezzano to Padula

Starting at approximately 3,200 feet we will actually continue climbing as we leave Castelmezzano. Most of today’s ride follows virtually un-trafficked roads. We encounter a spectacular descent to our lunch spot in Viggiano. Then again we continue to descend until we arrive at the base of our “Cima Coppi”, the most challenging climb of the tour, but oh what a climb and what a view. We will descend through a sweet-smelling pine forest to the town of Padula.

Average Mileage

Elevation Gain

Riding Terrain

Accommodations

The 4-star Villa Cosilinum is an archeo-hotel. An historical building with views of the center and the Diano Valley. This is the perfect facility to relax and enjoy your stay in Padula.

Luxury Level4 stars

Day7

Padula to Palinuro

Today’s ride starts out rolling and without significant elevation gains in the Tangaro Valley. From Sanza we enter the Cilento Park and we start with a climb that begins gently but finishes a bit steeper as we arrive at the top of Passo Inferno “Hell Pass.” After Passo Inferno, we enjoy a long cruising descent to Rofrano followed by another climb passing through Chestnut forests to our lunch spot in Montano Antilia. From here we start to see, more olive trees again—from which comes the prestigious Cilentano Olive oil—and the Tyrrhenian Sea! The end of today’s ride rewards us with an incredibly blissful 12-mile descent to the coast.

Average Mileage

59 miles

Elevation Gain

4,200 ft

Riding Terrain

Rolling with gentle-to-steep climbs and descents

Accommodations

The Grand Hotel San Pietro, situated in the centre of Palinuro, directly on the sea, is perfect for holidays with your family and your bike. With rooms looking straight onto the Gulf of Palinuro, this 4 star hotel awaits you for a holiday in the name of beauty and relaxation, during which every detail will be managed with passion and care.

Luxury Level

Day8

Rest Day or Palinuro Marina di Pisciotta Loop Ride

Optional rest or ride day! The hotel has a private beach and the crystal clear waters are certainly inviting. Lunch and dinner are on your own so you may choose to eat at the beach or there are several places in town to go to. Or you can get a small boat to pick you up at the beach and take you to the famous “grottos” of the area.

Average Mileage

27 miles / optional rest day

Riding Terrain

Gentle climbing along the coast to Pisciotta, then steep and narrow descent to Marina di Pisciotta. Then it’s mostly a cruise back to Palinuro. We’ll be back in Palinuro for lunch

Accommodations

The Grand Hotel San Pietro, situated in the centre of Palinuro, directly on the sea, is perfect for holidays with your family and your bike. With rooms looking straight onto the Gulf of Palinuro, this 4 star hotel awaits you for a holiday in the name of beauty and relaxation, during which every detail will be managed with passion and care.

Luxury Level

Day9

Palinuro to Maratea

Today’s ride is beautiful and scenic, as we travel along “the other Amalfi Coast,” the stretches of beach that Italians prefer to the more famous and touristy ones farther north. First we head towards Marina di Camarota and Sapri. Then in the afternoon, we ride along the narrow cliffs of Cersuta, and just a couple of miles before Maratea we come to a narrow stretch of road known as “Passeggiata Apprezzamo L’asino.” Once in Maratea, a charming place known as the “town with 44 churches,” we head to the center for a tasting of local products.

Average Mileage

45/54 miles with extra loop

Elevation Gain

3,190 ft

Riding Terrain

Flat along the coast, with a challenging but scenic climb and amazing descent before lunch. The afternoon is a spectacular coastal ride which gradually climbs to high cliffs overlooking the sea, and ends with a bit more challenging climbing

Accommodations

The four star luxury hotel, La Laconda Delle Donne Monache was originally occupied by the Vistandine nuns. It is the ideal accommodation in Maratea for guests to explore the character and local treasures of the Lucania region. This hotel has 27 rooms and suites, is a few steps from the sea and mountains and offers many gastronomic and cultural delights.

Luxury Level

Day10

Maratea to Morano Calabro

Today’s route starts with some climbing from the sea. We have a second climb to Lauria, where the 1989 Giro d’Italia started. After Lauria, we continue to climb and eventually enter the Pollino National Park, in Calabria. You’ll notice the elevation change as the lush, green landscape turns stark and mountainous. In the evening we’ll be entertained by Bruzi. Bruzi is the ancient name of the Calabrese people. This evening we’ll also be treated to a mozzarella-making demonstration and tasting.

Average Mileage

27/57 miles

Elevation Gain

6,500 ft

Riding Terrain

Long, beautiful, and hilly

Accommodations

The hotel is situated in the heart of the historic center of Morano Calbro and boasts a broad terrace with views of the Pollino mountains. Our host Tonino is maestro of an important school of hotel and restaurant management in nearby Castrovillari. He will see to it that our dinner is exquisitely prepared with all local and traditional ingredients. He will provide for us an unforgettable evening of authentic Calabrese food, song and dance.

Luxury Level

Day11

Morano Calabro to Cittadella del Capo

Today’s route is extremely curvy with some difficult climbs as we continue to travel on the periphery of the Pollino National Park. The riding is great fun though! We will pass through some of the small towns settled by Albanians who fled from the Turks over 500 years ago. Many of these communities maintain their own language and traditional dress. We’ll pass through Firmo, Lungro, and Acquaformosa, all of which are examples of characteristic Albanian villages. The ride finishes with a truly spectacular descent from Passo Scalone, at 2,500 ft all the way to the sea!

Average Mileage

60 miles

Elevation Gain

5,065 ft

Riding Terrain

Winding roads with some challenging climbs and spectacular but technical descents